Only after opening the bottle can wine go bad. The typical rule of thumb is to finish a bottle of wine within 7 days of opening it. However, if the bottle remains uncorked the longer it sits the more vintage it becomes. One important thing to always remember though is to store wine bottles on their side; this helps to preserve the quality and integrity of the wine.

No, wine does not ship with an expiration date.

That being said, most wines today are created thinking that they will be drank immediately if not within a year or two. Production processes and refinement have reached a point where most wines don't need to be aged to taste great.

So, as long as you haven't opened a bottle, it should be good for at the minimum a year or two.

No, there is no expiration date printed on wine, but not all wines get better with age, and eventually you will have a bottle of vinegar. White wine in general doesn't need to age much, maybe 3 or 4 years for a great one, after which it will start to taste off. Most red wines can easily age 5 years, but some can lose flavor within a couple years. The most balanced red wines can go 20+ years and taste even better. The way the wine is stored is a big factor in how well it ages: temperature, humidity, light, position, and movement can all affect the wine.

Just ask at the wine shop, or research online to find people's comments on the drinkability of a particular wine. You should be able to find the best time (ex: should be drinking well in 3-5 years) to drink the wine.

The biggest enemy to wine, is oxidation. It produces unwanted flavors and aromas, in addition to tarnishing the coloration of the wine.

Proper bottling minimizes the amount of oxygen that comes in contact to the surface area of the wine. Proper storage, in terms of temperature and humidity help insure the cork from shrinking, thus minimizing the introduction of new air. This is also why wine in racks is stored with the cork angled downward so that it remains expanded providing a tighter seal, and the air space remains exposed only to the glass portion of the bottle, which is impermeable to air.

For wines of longer vintage, when cork deterioration is suspected recorking is done as rapidly as possible, again to minimize oxidation, with inert gases often introduced into the bottle.

Oxidation is not reversible. It is this which can bring about the expiration of a bottle of wine.

Once open, a bottle of wine will have 2 to 8 hours of optimal existence. Storing wine once a bottle has been opened requires using a corking pump to remove air out of the bottle before recorking. You could also spray inert gas into the bottle before recorking to disperse the oxygen. Recorked wines should be refrigerated and stored for no more than 3 days.

Cheers!

Wine doesn't necessarily expire but it could reach its maturation potential and then become sort of lousy.

The ysay to drink white wine within 2 years of purchase.

Red wine in the proper storage location can age 5-10 years. Port can age even longer! But for the wine to age and to age well, you need to keep it in a relatively temperature controlled enviroment - ideally a wine cellar..HOWEVER - dont know about you but I dont have a wine cellar! hahah

So rule of thumb - keep the bottle out of the light, away from extreme temperatures (like in front of your picture window where the heat beats on it all day, or in the garage where it gets cold), away from extreme dampness so the cork doesn't get too mushy.

Some wines also aren't necessarily better older and are made to be drunk within a certain time limit. When we go wine tasting in Virginia, NY, Ct and Rhode Island many times as they pour a red wine they'll tell you - this is a relatively young wine and will reach its peak in about 2 years. And then there is your answer on when is the best time to drink that wine.

If there is a bottle that you wish to age - call the vineyard, check their webpage and email them and ask them what they think the aging potential of that wine is.

Also a $10 bottle of wine may not be good if it sits for 5 years. Its really about the complexity of the grape, how it was made, the fermentation process at the time of bottling...

Its an ENTIRE SCIENCE !! But definitley a fun hobby.

No I think oldest wine is one of the best tested wine.

The wine doesn't have a real expiration date, buy all wines have a intrinsic expiration date, and it is asociated with the quality of the wine (meaning grapes and process used) and how it was handle before, during and after it's harvest and production process.
The year off harvest is the year that says the label of the bottle.

There are some wines that have to be drink young (in the first 3 years after harvest), specially those that haven't been in casks.
You could say that a cheap wine has to be drink always young ("experation date": 3 years after harvest). But what is a cheap wine? It depens, some say a $5 wine others a $20.

If a wine during it's production process was casked for a period of time (from 3 moths to 36 or more months). It is said that:
a) If the wine was casked, then it has a longer "expiration date". compare to a none casked wine.
b) The length of ageing period of the wine in the casked, means that wine could aford to be drink in a more foward date, compare to a none casked wine.
So, casked wine have can be drink many months later after it's harvest year, and so, it has a later "expiration date" compare to none casked wines.

But the price and use of barrels are not the only factors that determines the "expiration date" of the wine, other factors are:
* The type and quality of the wineyard, grapes, terrain, etc.
* The climate
* The care in the harvest
* The quality of the products used to process the grape
* The type and age of the barrel use
* The length of ageing period of the wine in the barrel
* The composition of wine (types of grape and combination, and also ingredients added)
* The handle process of the bottled wine.

You could buy the most expensive wine, but if one of the factors above had a flaw, then you have a wine that has a tendency of a "expiration date" near to his harvest year.

So the intrinsic expiration date of the wine, has so many factors to define it, that the way that you could garantee (not alwas perfect) that you are buying a good wine for a good price, that hasn't reach it's expiration date, it's to buy it in a place that knows about wine or/and handle carefully the bottles of wine.